If I had to make a general rule for living and working with children, it might be this: be wary of saying or doing anything to a child that you would not do to another adult, whose good opinion and affection you valued.

John Holt
About This Quote

Author and psychologist Lawrence J. Cohen wrote: “If I had to make a general rule for living and working with children, it might be this: be wary of saying or doing anything to a child that you would not do to another adult, whose good opinion and affection you valued.” This quote comes from his book, A Child Called It: One Child’s Courage to Survive (2008). He was reflecting on the terrible charges leveled against him as a child by his mother, who felt betrayed by his breaking the rules of their family.

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  1. Only to the degree that people have what they need, that they are healthy and unafraid, that their lives are varied, interesting, meaningful, productive, joyous, can we begin to judge, or even guess, their nature. Few people, adults or children, now live such lives.
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